The day after Lake and Robertson appeared together, on Nov. 21, 2013, the building where the news conference happened was surrounded by two dozen emergency response vehicles for five hours. Const. Brian Montague, a VPD spokesman, said police were dealing with a “distraught man in his (Pan Pacific) hotel room.” The man was apparently alone and was no danger to others. No other details were released.

The turnout of police vehicles was an impressive collection of empty and haphazardly parked marked and unmarked vehicles. Even the military-style armoured vehicle was parked right in front of the lobby to the World Trade Centre, where the Premier’s office is located. Other areas of the city likely went without regular police coverage for several hours, because of so many resources directed to the Pan Pacific Hotel. I witnessed one police officer carry a rifle to his vehicle parked near the Waterfront Centre hotel; I was unable to confirm whether it belonged to the police or if it had been seized from the subject of the standoff.

As you can see from below, the information released by the B.C. Ambulance Service about the Nov. 21, 2013 Canada Place incident via Freedom of Information was scant and heavily redacted for privacy reasons. VPD’s FOI office refused to release information, citing exemptions that protect third-party personal information and operational law enforcement records.

Do you have information about this incident? Are you a hotel worker in Vancouver concerned about workplace health, safety and security? Please contact me in confidence: bob (at) bobmackin (dot) ca